


Fire and Flame

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Community: 1 Million Words' August Rush, F/M, Het, POV Multiple, Romance, Secret Relationship, everybody finds out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2015-08-15
Packaged: 2018-04-14 21:40:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4581093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Barry comes to the rescue at the scene of a meta human explosion, he uncovers a secret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Explosion

**Author's Note:**

> For various prompts at August Rush. I have no idea where this is going.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry sees something that shocks him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For day 2 - picture of Barry being knocked off his feet by an explosion.

The explosion threatened to knock Barry off his feet and he knew that only his lightning quick reflexes saved him from hitting the ground with considerable force. Still, his abilities did nothing to stop the ringing in his ears and it took him a moment and a shake of the head for his thoughts to clear. Turning his head, he saw a face he recognised, one he'd seen on STAR Labs computers but never in real life, a face that had often evoked a sad smile from Caitlin, a fond one from Cisco. 

Ronnie's face now, contorted with rage, eyes glowing white with fire and fury, wouldn't make either of them smile. His hands were clenched into fists at his side, fire emanating from them and he was staring at the burning car, his feet hovering about an inch off the ground. 

No, Barry realised suddenly. He wasn't staring at the car. Rather, he was staring through it, which meant that whatever had caused his rage, it was likely on the other side, and consequently still in danger. 

In the blink of an eye, Barry was there, staring down at something that, for a moment, made no sense to him and he wondered if he'd banged his head in the explosion after all. 

Because, huddled on the ground, her chin touching her knees, her shoulders trembling as tears poured down her cheeks, was Caitlin. 

Beside her, arms wrapped around her, shielding her with his body, was Joe. 

"What the-?" 

Before Barry could finish the question, Joe was looking up at him and the look of fear in his eyes was one that Barry had only seen when either himself or Iris was in danger. "Get her out of here." It was a command, not a request, but Barry wasn't the one who replied to it. 

"No." Caitlin looked up at Joe, eyes wide and terrified. "You go... he won't hurt me, I know he won't."

Joe shook his head, touched her cheek gently. "Sweetheart, I'm not taking that chance." His eyes turned to Barry then and, using the same tone he'd long ago used to get Barry to clean his room, he said, "Her first... then me."

The tone worked better now than it ever had when he was a teenager and Barry whisked Caitlin away to the safety of STAR Labs. 

Seconds later, he was back for Joe and when the three of them were standing together, he crossed his arms over his chest. "I think we need to talk."


	2. Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry talks to Joe about what she saw.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For day one, a picture of Barry looking unimpressed.

"I think we need to talk." 

Joe took a deep breath, the better to steady himself on his feet. He would like to say that it was the effect of being rushed to STAR Labs at Barry-speed that was the only thing that had him rattled; truth was, that was only the tip of the iceberg. 

The bigger part of the picture was standing across the room from him and Barry, holding onto a computer console like it was the only thing holding her up, tears streaming down her chalk white face. 

"We will." He answered Barry first, then crossed the room to Caitlin. "Are you ok?"

She didn't hesitate, didn't prevaricate, just shook her head. "No." 

He didn't hesitate either, just pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. 

He would have liked to stay like that for longer but Caitlin straightened up quicker than he might have thought possible and when he followed her gaze to Barry, he understood why. 

In the years since Barry had lived it him, Joe would have said he'd seen every expression on Barry's face. 

He'd never seen this before, almost a total lack of expression. Barry might have been made of granite he was standing so still, his eyes fixed on the two of them and it was impossible for Joe to work out what he was thinking. 

"This isn't how we wanted you to find out," he heard himself saying and Barry nodded. 

"I can imagine. There must be better ways than getting half of Central City blown up by a meta-human."

Which was a complete exaggeration, Joe knew - one car did not half the city make - but when Caitlin stiffened in his arms, he didn't bother to point out the distinction. "You're upset," he said instead. "I get that. We both get that. But I think there are other things to be concerned about here."

"Right." Barry's voice was terse, clipped. "I'll get changed... look for Ronnie." With that he was gone, leaving Joe looking at only air where he had been only seconds before. 

Suddenly, he missed that blank expression more than he ever thought he would. 


	3. Ire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris confronts her dad about the explosion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For day 3 - a picture of Iris looking miffed.

"So, were you ever going to tell me?" 

Joe blinked as he looked up into the if not angry then decidedly miffed face of his daughter. Swallowing hard, he glanced at the clock, realising that even though he'd lingered at STAR Labs after Barry had left to find Ronnie, not even Barry could have found Iris, spilled the beans and then left to find Ronnie again, giving Iris enough time to get to police headquarters. Which meant Iris might not know about him and Caitlin. 

He knew it was a slim hope, but it was the only one he had. 

"Tell you what?" he parried and Iris crossed her arms over her chest as she blew a puff of air out between her lips. 

"About how you're involved with one of Barry's friends? One of my friends?" She kept her voice low, which was something and probably in deference to the fact that they were standing in his place of work. The tone of her voice, however, told him loud and clear that if they'd been at home, she'd have been yelling at the top of her voice.   "And don't try to deny it." She reached into her purse, pulled out a folder and threw it on the table in front of him. "Someone sent CCTV footage from the explosion to my blog."

Joe flipped open the file, heart plummeting into his shoes at the first picture. He and Caitlin were clearly identifiable, walking down the street side by side. It might even have looked innocent, but for the smiles on both their faces, but for the way that Caitlin was looking at him while he looked straight ahead. Any other time, Joe thought, he might have enjoyed seeing that look on her face, seeing how she looked at him when he wasn't aware of it. 

But not when Iris was staring at him, silently seething. 

He turned over the page, found another picture, one he knew immediately preceded the explosion. He and Caitlin were facing one another and his hand was touching her cheek. There could be nothing innocent about a look like that and, recalling what he had been saying, he was very glad that there was no audio record. 

"That's the last shot before the cameras blew from the explosion." Iris's lips were pressed in a thin line. "My source thought CCPD might want to look for this couple, see if they knew what caused the attack. I figured I might as well come down and hand over the evidence in person." Joe tapped on the picture with one hand, ran the other over his face. "Is this where  you lie to me again?" 

Taking a deep breath, Joe said one name. "Ronnie."

Iris frowned. "Caitlin's Ronnie? But he's..."

"Yeah... That's what we thought. Until this morning. Our best guess? He's one of these guys your blog is all about." He shifted, told another half truth. "The Flash found us, got us to STAR Labs. Vanished before we could ask him anything." 

"How's Caitlin?" All traces of anger had vanished from Iris's voice, leaving only concern in its wake. 

"Shocked... scared... devastated." Joe rubbed his chin. "I tried to get her to take the day... she said she's safer in STAR Labs than anywhere." 

"She's probably right." Iris bit her lip. "Look... I'm still mad you didn't tell me about the two of you. Even if I understand why. But this... If there's anything I can do..."

Joe could tell from the look on her face that she meant it. Standing up, he pulled her into a hug. "I love you, baby girl."

"I love you too, Dad."

He watched her go, then sighed, pulled out his phone and dialled Caitlin's number. She still sounded rattled when she answered and he hated himself for what he was about to tell her, knowing it would make a bad day worse. 

"Iris knows."


	4. Cry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cisco finds Caitlin crying in the pipeline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For day 4, a picture of a crying Caitlin

"I thought I'd find you here."

Caitlin didn't stand up, didn't look up as Cisco spoke, just turned her head away from him and raised her hand to her eyes. The sleeves of her sweater were pulled low over her hands and when she moved her hands down beside her to grip the low wall of the pipeline tightly, he could see damp tracks where she'd wiped away her tears. "I'm fine, Cisco," she said and even if he didn't know everything that was going on, he'd still know that was a lie from the tightness in her voice. 

He hadn't heard her sound that way since the particle accelerator exploded, since she'd lost Ronnie. 

He hadn't missed it at all. 

"You sure?" He sat down beside her, left enough distance so he wasn't a threat. "Because I wouldn't be if I were you."

She laughed without humour. "What am I supposed to say? I mean, the dead love of my life returns as a meta-human who goes psycho when he finds out I've moved on with..." She bit her lip, glanced over at Cisco like she'd said something she shouldn't. 

"It's ok, Caitlin," he said. "I know."

She closed her eyes, pressed her lips together and he knew Caitlin well enough to know that she was fighting back more tears. "Barry."

"No." That single quiet word had her eyes flying open, her head snapping around to look at him. "I worked it out a while ago," he told her and he could have told her the exact date and time but he settled for, "Some random day we were all in the Cortex and Barry was telling us something and Joe was listening to him... I looked over at you, intending to make a very amusing face about Barry's story, but you..." He shook his head, smiling at the memory. "You were paying no attention. You only had eyes for Joe."

Caitlin's eyes were wide, glassy with tears that she was too shocked to cry. "You never said..."

"I figured you'd tell me when you were ready," he replied with an easy shrug, which was the honest truth. 

"You must think I'm a terrible person."

 Now it was his turn to be surprised.  "Caitlin, there is nothing in this universe that could make me think... why would you say-"

She shrugged. "Ronnie was barely gone a year... Joe is practically Barry's dad... the age thing..."

"He makes you happy,  Caitlin." He reached over, took her hand and held it tightly. "That's all I care about."

Tears were near the surface when she said, "Barry and Iris... They're so angry with us..."

"So they're pissed. So what?" His frank assessment had her covering her face with her free hand and he squeezed her other one again. "They'll come around."

"What if they don't?" A single tear made its way down her cheek and broke his heart. "Because I don't know if I can lose another man I -" Her voice broke on a sob before she could finish her sentence but she didn't have to; Cisco could fill in the blank. His heart broke for her all over again as he did the only thing he could: he pulled her into his arms and let her cry. 


	5. Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caitlin arrives at Joe's house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For day 10, a picture of a half smiling Joe

"I wasn't sure I'd see you here tonight."

If Caitlin was taken aback by his first words when he opened the door, she didn't show it. She did, however, look down and her cheeks grew slightly darker. It might have been the cold, Joe supposed, but he was enough of a detective to know that that probably wasn't the case. "I wasn't sure I'd come," she told him, shifting on her feet and moving her bag - a bag, he noticed, not a purse - on her shoulder. "Can I come in?"

He stepped back quickly, waving her in and taking the bag off her shoulder before she even had time to think about it, Grandma Esther's lessons in manners rearing their head again. His detective's mind, meanwhile, ascertained the weight of the bag; not too heavy, probably containing clothes and, from the slight heft, a pair of shoes. Despite his naturally pessimistic nature when it came to things like this - he'd been alone a long time - hope flamed somewhere in the deep recesses of his heart. "You're always welcome," he told her and she smiled as she turned to him, tucked a piece of hair behind one ear. 

"After today..." she said quietly, slowly and the images danced through his mind, Ronnie's angry eyes and fists of flame, Caitlin's shaking shoulders, the set of Iris's jaw when she confronted him, "I didn't think Iris would say that."

Joe pressed his lips together, placing her bag at the bottom of the stairs. "She's not here," he told her. "She texted me earlier to say she was staying at Eddie's tonight."

Something about that seemed to amuse Caitlin to no end. "Probably about the same time she sent me the same message." Joe felt his jaw drop and Caitlin's grin grew wider. "I think she wanted to let me know the coast was clear... that there were no hard feelings."

Joe stepped towards her, took one hand in his. "You've been through a lot today," he told her. "Seeing Ronnie again..."

Caitlin's fingers tightened on his. "You mean when my presumed dead fiancé decided to try to kill us both in a jealous rage?" She didn't sound angry, just sad and any other time, any other day, Joe would be pulling her into a hug right now. 

This was not any other day. 

"Caitlin, it was hard enough for you to even get on board with the idea of us," he reminded her. "And now he's back..."

"Barry couldn't find him." Caitlin interrupted him, took a step closer, then another. Her eyes were serious, her tone firm. "And even if he had... Joe, whatever he's been through, he's not the man I was going to marry. Not any more."

"You can't know-" Belatedly he realised she was saying everything he'd wanted her to say and he wondered why he was trying to hard to talk her out of it. 

The answer came to him quickly. Because he knew he was in this for the long haul and he wanted her - needed her - to be sure. 

"I do." Her hand landed on his chest, toyed with the buttons on his shirt. "The man I loved would never have tried to hurt me." She looked down then, concentrating on her fingers. "The man I love would try to protect me."

Oh.

Joe blinked as the import of her words hit him. 

"Caitlin..." Tucking a finger under her chin, he tilted her head up so he could look into her eyes. Smiling, he made her a promise. "I will always try to protect you."

She lifted one eyebrow, smiled cheekily. "Even if I don't think I need it?"

He grinned; she'd often chided him for being over prrotective of Barry and Iris. "Especially then."

Her laugh was soft, happy and she tilted her head as he moved his hand so that his fingers were brushing her cheek. "Can I stay tonight?" she whispered, pupils dilating as she stared up at him, fingers no longer playing with the buttons on his shirt, instead purposefully undoing one. 

"You can stay as long as you want," he promised, drawing her into a kiss. 


End file.
